Liu Jieyi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday that the Chinese mainland hopes to deepen cooperation with Taiwan businesses despite the pandemic.

He made the remarks at the 2020 annual conference of the summit for entrepreneurs across the Taiwan Strait in Beijing. Entrepreneurs from the island attended the meeting via video link.

Earlier on Wednesday, Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, sent a congratulatory letter to the conference.

Wang highlighted the importance of cross-strait economic cooperation and hailed the contribution made by businesses from both sides.

Wang said the Chinese mainland has mapped out the 14th Five-Year Plan, the blueprint for the next five years, and it will bring major opportunities and long-term benefits to companies and businesses in Taiwan.

Citing Wang's letter, Liu said the Chinese mainland has put the virus under control and facilitated the resumption of production of Taiwan-funded companies operating in the Chinese mainland.

Liu hopes businesses from both sides can work jointly to deepen economic cooperation, promote cross-strait integrated development, and enhance the well-being of compatriots on both sides.

"China is the only major economy in the world that has achieved positive economic growth this year. It has become an important engine of world economic growth and played a strong role in driving the economy of the island," Liu said.

From January to November this year, cross-strait trade increased by 13.8 percent to reach $235.69 billion, according to Liu.

Without the opportunities brought by the mainland, Taiwan's economy will not be able to maintain positive growth this year, he said, adding that the cross-strait economic cooperation exactly proves the fact that the mainland is willing to take the lead to share the development opportunities with Taiwan compatriots.

Speaking of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Liu said that more support will be given to the Taiwan enterprises to achieve greater development during the period by improving quality and efficiency through high-quality development so as to reach a new stage in the new development pattern.

"By fully participating in and deeply integrating into the new economic development pattern of 'dual circulation,' we will surely achieve even greater harvest," Liu said.

The new development pattern featuring dual circulation takes the domestic market as the mainstay and allows domestic and foreign markets to boost each other.

Highlighting enterprises as the mainstay of cross-strait economic cooperation, Liu called on them for more contributions to the development of cross-strait relations.